Siegel: Goodyear growth requires planning for the future
Posted
By Mike Siegel
As a resident of Goodyear during the past five years, I have seen the amazing growth throughout this community. That growth demonstrates the highly desirable environment in the city.
We have good traffic flow, the growth of retail business and the continuation of that growth, quality schools and an excellent employment record.
Having established the quality of life in Goodyear, the question becomes how do we maintain it?
There is the matter of infrastructure keeping up with the pace of residential, commercial and retail construction. This means more automobiles on the road, greater need for sewer and water facilities and energy availability to our citizens.
We have seen other regions around the country suffer from substantial growth because they have been unable to keep up with infrastructure needs for that growth.
A good example is Seattle, which became one of the four most traffic-congested areas in the country. Goodyear, of course, is not the major city in our region as is Seattle, but the template is similar.
Staying ahead of the infrastructure needs will be vital in the future as it is now, and hopefully our city officials will be up to the task.
In the meantime, one simple suggestion that can be implemented is having the traffic lights on major streets in our community synchronized so that automobiles traveling at the speed limit will arrive at the next traffic light as it turns green and seamlessly maintains traffic flow.
That procedure is not in place now in my experience traveling on these thoroughfares. It would make fuel consumption more efficient and would help minimize traffic jams that might otherwise be in our future.
There are many other proactive steps that can be taken to avoid challenges in the future and we must continue to be diligent in dealing with these growth issues.
Editor’s note: Mike Siegel is host of shows on local talk radio. He lives in Goodyear’s PebbleCreek community.
